The FDA added a frequently asked questions section to its medical device page on September 1, 2026, addressing a question patients have increasingly brought to their doctors. Many implanted and inserted medical devices contain materials from the PFAS chemical family, and the agency's position is that this is not the same problem as PFAS in drinking water.
The devices involved are not obscure. Fluoropolymers appear in cardiovascular implants such as stents and vascular grafts, in catheters and guidewires used for minimally invasive procedures, in tubing, and in wound dressings. Anyone who has had a stent placed, a catheter inserted, or a wound dressed in a hospital has likely encountered them.
